Plug-in circuit boards having electronic components located thereon that are interconnected by printed wiring circuitry of the circuit board are widely used in the Telecommunication and Computer Industry. These types of circuit boards are oftentimes inserted in equipment mounting apparatus used to interconnect the circuit boards to form electronic systems such as telecommunication switching and computer systems. In general, the equipment mounting apparatus comprises frames having grooves located therein which receive edges of a circuit board and guide the circuit board to engage a backplane used to connect circuit boards together to form an electronic system.
The equipment mounting apparatus backplane may comprise an array of pin terminals mounted in the backplane to engage printed circuitry of the backplane or to extend outward from the back surface of the backplane to engage cable conductors used to interconnect the circuit boards. The pin terminals also extend outward from the front surface of the backplane to engage a pin insertion connector mounted on a circuit board so that an electrical conducting path may be established between the circuit board and the interconnecting backplane printed wiring circuitry and cabling so that the circuit board may be interconnected with other circuit boards to form the electronic system.
In the high speed technology of modern electronics high frequency connectors have been developed for use with circuit boards. Such a connector has been described in the co-pending application of M. S. Robin et al., Ser. No. 606,141, filed May 2, 1984, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,014, and is arranged to provide shielded paths between the connector contacts and printed wiring circuitry of the circuit board. A problem arises in the use of high frequency connectors mounted on plug-in circuit boards in that shielding members of the connector must be engaged with and disengaged from ground as a plug-in circuit board is inserted and removed from equipment mounting apparatus.
Accordingly, a need exists for apparatus for use in interconnecting high frequency connectors with ground of equipment mounting apparatus. A need also exists for apparatus arranged to interconnect and disconnect a high frequency connector mounted on a plug-in circuit board with ground as the circuit board is inserted and removed from equipment mounting apparatus.